In Megna v. Tishman Constr. Corp. of Manhattan (306 AD2d 163 [1st Dept 2003] plaintiff, an elevator helper at a construction site, was injured when a temporary two-step wooden staircase leading to a temporary wooden landing collapsed under his weight and he fell to the ground. The Court held that, as the temporary stairway was being used to facilitate plaintiff's access to a different elevation level, and therefore indisputably an elevation device within the meaning of Labor Law 240 (1), the shortness of the distance of plaintiff's fall--at least two feet according to plaintiff, no more than 16 inches according to defendants--was irrelevant.